


XXXX and be XXXXd

by Natsumiya_Teirin



Category: Alice Mare
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, semi-au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-10-28 20:56:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10839300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natsumiya_Teirin/pseuds/Natsumiya_Teirin
Summary: Once upon a time, the cat and the rabbit were all he knew, until their efforts to protect him backfired, and he knew not even them.He remembered the coppery smell of blood, and the guiding voices of what existed both inside and outside the realm of his imagination.Once upon a time, he would've been afraid of the orphanage. But not now.





	1. Good Night

_The ant told me that the frog is bad._

_  
The frog told me that the cat is bad._

_  
The cat told me, “No, the rabbit’s the worst of all!”_

_  
So I…_

* * *

_Drip...drip...drip..._

Red.

So much red...

The air was suddenly stifling. 

Coppery. 

_"Now look what you've done, cat..."_

**_"Hmph. I only did what I had to do to protect him. Not like you."_ **

_"The adults are going to think he's responsible! He'll be locked up, or transferred to an orphanage and then adopted by some psychopath to become a-"_

**_"I'll take care of it, rabbit. No one will suspect him if he was gone when they_ ** _**died."**_

_"Stupid cat, what are you-"_

**_"Sshhh! I'm thinking!"_ **

There was a metallic ringing in his ears. At first, it was only a faint sound- just background noise for his friends' arguing. But it grew steadily larger until it drowned out everything else. 

There was a final crash, much like the clashing of two symbols, and then blackness. 

* * *

He woke up in a hospital. Though he didn't remember how he'd gotten there, he knew it was a hospital because the sterile scent stung at his nose. 

The doctors said his parents were dead. Then an officer asked him some questions that he couldn't answer. 

And then a man with dark hair and kind black eyes entered the room. 

He said his name was Teacher. 

 

 


	2. Two Children

The next evening, after having done some shopping, the man named Teacher signed Allen out of the hospital and took him to the orphanage he ran. It was a relatively secluded place, but it seemed nice. 

Welcoming. 

Teacher opened the door, and as if it were an alarm, the other children of the orphanage came rushing downstairs, each of them holding a messily wrapped parcel. 

Teacher looked just as surprised as Allen felt. The man had said today was the day before Christmas- a holiday where people gave each other gifts ("and of course I bought presents for you as well", he added) but the blond boy didn't understand then why he looked surprised. 

 "What have you all done?" Teacher asked with a smile as he gently pushed through the children and led Allen into the den. He took a seat on a large armchair while Allen awkwardly stood beside him. 

The girl in front, absolutely bouncing with energy, held out her parcel- wrapped in purple paper- to Allen while turning her head to look at Teacher. 

"Well, we thought that, because it's Christmas, or, well, Christmas _Eve_ , it'd be really fun if we got presents for our new brother!" 

The boy beside her stacked his blue parcel on top of the purple one as Allen took the latter and took over where the blonde girl left off.

"But we didn't have any money of our own, and it didn't feel right askin'  _you_ for some after you spent alot already."

Another girl, this one dressed in red and holding a teddy bear with a red bow around its neck, peeked out from behind the boy. She looked at Allen as she spoke, her voice soft and shy- nothing like the energetic voices of her predecessors.

"S-so we thought that...we'd give him some of what we already have. A-also, um, hi, m...my name's Ch-Chelsy." 

Allen gave her a shy smile, catching an amused glint in Teacher's eye. 

Chelsy placed the teddy bear on the table, beside a lamp, and Allen cautiously set the purple and blue packages beside it.

The fourth and final child, a girl with black hair and matching eyes (like Teacher's) held a black package. She placed it neatly atop the other parcels and stared at Allen for a moment. 

"....Strange," she said once that moment was gone, " you feel alive, and yet...." she shook her head. "Never mind it. I am Stella. It's a pleasure to meet you." 

Allen nodded his head in return.

"Y-yes- nice to meet you as well..." 

Teacher began to speak again. 

"Yes. Everyone, this is Allen. He'll be staying with us for quite some time, so please try to make him feel welcome." He stood up. "I'll start preparing dinner now." 

He left the den, leaving Allen to interact with the other children. 

The blonde girl came to him first, a cheery grin on her face. 

"Hi there Allen! My name's Letty, and I'm  _really_ happy you're here! I have a brother named Rick, but he's not here right now- you'll see him later tonight, and he's got a present for you, too!" 

With a slightly dazed nod, Allen turned his attention to the only other boy, who waved and smiled at him lackadaisically. 

"Hey there. Name's Joshua. Or was it Marcus? Or maybe it's Helen?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever. It's nice to meetcha. Now," his smile became an excited grin, " how about you open your presents? Or I guess you could wait till tomorrow..." 

"No...I guess I can open them now. Thank you all for these presents." 

Allen took Teacher's place in the armchair and grabbed the black package. He delicately unwrapped it to find a storybook of fairytales by the Brothers Grimm. This, he was sure he'd end up reading.

With a gratuitous nod towards Stella, he set it back on the table beside the teddy bear and picked up the blue parcel. He unwrapped the many, many layers of blue paper to reveal a toy gun. He wasn't sure if he'd use it, but he smiled anyway, appreciative of the thought.

"Thank you, Joshua," he said, setting it down on top of the book.

Finally, Allen took the purple package and began unwrapping it. There was a simple necklace inside- a silver chain with two charms on it- a white rabbit head and a black cat head.

With an appreciative smile, he reached behind his head and clasped the necklace around his neck.

"It's lovely. Thank you Letty."  

The girl beamed. 

Allen looked around, seeing five doors, four of them with name tags. 

_Letty and Rick_

_Chelsy_

_Joshua_

_Stella_

_So then that means...the fifth room is mine?_

"What're you lookin' at?" Joshua asked, following his gaze. 

"Oh. Yeah, those are our rooms. The one at the end's yours."

_Oh. That answers that question._

Chelsy spoke up. "U-um, m-maybe, well, I think...I think it might be a g-good idea if we...left Allen alone f-for a while, so he can...get settled in..." 

Stella nodded her head. "Yes. That would be best. To our rooms, then." She and Chelsy left to their respective rooms, Letty and Joshua following suit. 

With a tired sigh, Allen gathered up his presents and headed into his new bedroom, setting the items on the bed and then stuffing the wrapping paper into the wastebasket. 

There was a plush cat on the desk, and a list of rules taped above it.

_-Try to stay in your rooms as much as possible, except during free time (potty breaks OK)._

_-Don't break anything. If you do, tell Teacher._

_-Don't take things from other rooms._

_-Don't force your way into locked rooms._

_-Don't hit other people._

_-Tell Teacher anything that troubles you or that you want._

At the bottom of the list was a drawing of a rabbit.

 


End file.
